The Federal Trade Commission will hold the most important meeting of this administration at 2 PM EDT Tuesday April 23, 2024. Commissioners will decide whether to issue a rule that declares most noncompete clauses in...more
“Why are you losing so much? Are you losing on purpose?” An implacable Lina Khan fended off four hours of hostile questions from members of the House Judiciary Committee, who criticized her ethics and performance as FTC...more
“The FTC with a cavalier attitude is weighing in on areas that are outside its authority and deciding issues on subjective means…. I can’t support a massive increase for the Commission’s budget, especially given the FTC’s...more
On Tuesday April 18, FTC Chair Khan, and Commissioners Bedoya and Slaughter spent almost three hours responding to criticism and compliments before the Subcommittee on Innovation, Data, and Commerce of the House Energy and...more
The Federal Trade Commission’s (“FTC”) proposed rule banning the use of non-competes with employees and workers could regulate almost all employers in the nation. If this proposal becomes final it could also prohibit...more
On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed a sweeping new rule which, if enacted in its draft form, would ban virtually all non-competition agreements (non-competes), including those already in effect....more
1/20/2023
/ Comment Period ,
Contract Terms ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Section 5 ,
Unfair Competition
By now, most of our readers have likely heard about the FTC’s proposed rule to ban noncompete clauses in employment contracts, including from Kelley Drye’s other posts on the topic discussing the sheer breadth of the proposal...more
When the FTC proposes a rule that could regulate nearly every employer in the nation, we take notice. In this second installment of our series on the FTC’s proposed rule to ban noncompete agreements, we provide a pragmatic...more
1/17/2023
/ Comment Period ,
Contract Terms ,
Employment Contract ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
FTC Act ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Proposed Rules ,
Public Comment ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Section 5 ,
Unfair Competition
Last week, the Federal Trade Commission revealed what it meant when it vowed to be more than an antitrust and consumer protection agency. It announced a proposal to regulate virtually every labor and service relationship in...more
The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 could have some surprises in store for parties that do deals. If passed, it would decrease the filing fee for small deals by a third. But it would also increase the fees for the...more
On Wednesday, we described draft legislation circulating in the Senate Commerce Committee that would have given the Federal Trade Commission almost unfettered authority to enjoin permanently any act, practice or method of...more
The one-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in AMG Capital Management, LLC v. FTC has renewed calls for Congressional action to expand and codify the Federal Trade Commission’s enforcement authority under Section...more
For decades, the FTC has explained that the omission of information can lead to liability. It is also a canon of statutory construction that an amendment helps reveal legislative intent. And of course, your mother put it...more
Last week. FTC Commissioner Christine Wilson delivered a speech with a title that made clear she intended to speak her mind: The Neo-Brandeisian Revolution: Unforced Errors and the Dimunition of the FTC....more
In its third recent Penalty Offense Authority notice, the FTC today notified more than 1,100 companies offering “money-making opportunities” that it intends to pursue civil penalties of up to $43,792 per violation for...more
Over the last ten days, 700 companies and 70 for-profit colleges received notice of the FTC’s intent to pursue civil penalties under Section 5(m)(1)(b), if these companies and colleges engage in certain conduct deemed by the...more
As we have noted in earlier posts, in the wake of the Supreme Court’s holding that Section 13(b) of the FTC Act does not allow for monetary restitution, the Federal Trade Commission has been attempting to creatively utilize...more
Making good on promises to creatively explore all of its options for enforcement, the FTC yesterday notified 70 for-profit higher educational institutions that it intends to use its long dormant Penalty Offense Authority to...more
Last week, we wrote about FTC Chair Khan’s memo describing her plans to transform the FTC’s approach to its work. This week, she followed up with a no-less-ambitious statement laying out her vision for data privacy and...more
Commissioners Cut Procedures, Rescind Policy, Empower Staff, Target Tech -
With an unprecedented attack on policies the Federal Trade Commission had long embraced, the new majority of Democratic Commissioners revealed a...more
Sentiment to Strengthen Antitrust Law Gains Strength -
The Journalism Competition & Preservation Act, or the JCPA, faced resistance from Committee members and some witnesses, who favored antitrust rules for the tech...more
At a hearing of the Antitrust Subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee today, Chair Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) emphasized the need for broad antitrust reform. While she rallied bipartisan support to supplement antitrust...more
In a significant but unsurprising move, the CFPB announced today that it was rescinding a policy statement issued in January 2020 that sought to tether the Bureau’s “abusive” authority to certain limiting principles. The...more
According to Politico, Senator Amy Klobuchar intends to hold the Senate Judiciary’s first Antitrust Hearing this year, the next step toward advancing her bill, the Competition and Antitrust Law Enforcement Reform Act. ...more
President Biden’s nominee to serve as CFPB Director, Rohit Chopra, today testified in front of the Senate Banking Committee about his potential regulatory and enforcement priorities as head of the consumer finance regulator....more